It’s from the Selfie collection, a collection of six fun, bright summer shades.

Best Face Forward is alone in the collection as the only flakie polish. It’s a purple – that sometimes looks inky blue – with cyan blue and pinky-purple flakies in it.

I couldn’t quite capture the sparkle of the flakies in the photo, and in truth, they are best visible in fluorescent light (or perhaps sunlight – but that’s now gone in my part of the UK!)

Morgan Taylor Best Face Forward

There’s a bit of tip wear visible, but that’s because this is day four of wearing this polish, and I’ve done some hard core cleaning in these nails over that time! Morgan Taylor polishes are probably my favourite for wear length. They rarely chip and they last ages on me.

Morgan Taylor Best Face Forward

My nails are a different shape these days. I broke the middle nail while I was away on holiday, and I decided to shorten them all to match. I wasn’t entirely ready to return to my squared shape, and they’re not long enough to be almond again, so I’ve compromised with rounded nails. I’m not overly happy with this shape on me. But they’ll grow in no time, so I shall just have to put up with it for a bit. I have to say, I forgot how easy it was to type without excessively long nails. People still think my current nails are long, but they feel so short to me.

Here’s a journey through my nail shape in Morgan Taylor polishes. Which shape do you prefer?

I always like the behind the scenes videos that Morgan Taylor puts together – here’s the one for the Selfie advert.

You can buy Morgan Taylor nail polishes in the UK in Sally’s stores – or online at www.sallyexpress.com.

For this manicure I’ve used:

Colour: two coats of Morgan Taylor Best Face Forward

Top coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

All manicure images are copyright to Kerruticles unless otherwise mentioned.
Morgan Taylor Best Face Forward was sent to me for review. All views expressed in this post are my own, honest and unbiased opinions.

Morgan Taylor Put A Wing On It is the second of six polishes in the Sweetheart Squadron collection that I am reviewing.

Once again I feel that Morgan Taylor has mis-described a polish. They call it a fiery red, but I think it’s more of a burnt orange in colour. The base does lean quite strongly towards red, but the tiny, gold-coloured flakies give it a glow that makes the overall colour far more orange for me.

Morgan Taylor Put A Wing On It

I used three coats in these photos, but it really only needs two. I added the third coat after I had worn the polish for a couple of days and the gap between the polish and my cuticles was getting too large for my liking (vain me!)

It’s a very autumnal polish. And is particularly good for Halloween manicures. It dries matte, which is often a sign that a polish is a neon. So I checked it under UV light and it is indeed a neon. It glows pretty bright actually, and that probably makes it even more apt for a Halloween polish.

Morgan Taylor polishes are sold in the UK at Sally’s stores – or online at www.sallyexpress.com for £10.99 each. They are great value for that because they paint on beautifully and wear really well too.

For this manicure I’ve used:

Colour: three coats of Morgan Taylor Put A Wing On It

Top coat: Glisten & Glow HK Girl

All manicure images are copyright to Kerruticles unless otherwise mentioned.
Morgan Taylor Put A Wing On It was sent to me for review. All views expressed in this post are my own, honest and unbiased opinions.

Coloristiq are the people behind the nail polish “hire” scheme. But you purchase this box, not hire it, so you get to keep the goodies!

It costs £15 plus £2.80 P&P. Every box is themed and this month the nail polishes celebrate some of the world’s most exciting cities: London, Venice, New York and Budapest.

The box is beautifully packaged. I was a little concerned upon opening it that the bottles weren’t individually packaged, as per the Royal Mail’s requirements. They did have some paper packaging. I didn’t photograph it, so I’ll have to describe it. It’s the shredded paper that’s also concertina-ed – if that makes sense! I think that helped a little with cushioning the bottles, but I’m not convinced it’s sufficient. Some hefty handling on the part of a postie in the sorting office may well knock a couple of the bottles together. Anyway, that aside, mine arrived safely, and they did have an ID8000 label, which many polish suppliers don’t provide.

Coloristiq Manicure Box September 2015

The four polishes are all very different. They’re as diverse as the cities they represent, in fact. But each of them is fantastic. I am absolutely delighted to add these four to my collection.

The polishes you get with the September 2015 Coloristiq Manicure Box

Nails Inc | The Mall

Nails Inc The Mall is a vibrant, shimmery blue. It’s deeper than cobalt, but the shimmer keeps it lighter than navy. I wondered at first if it also has a duochrome quality, as it seemed to shift between violet and blue on the first coat. But the second coat took this away.

It is an old style Nails Inc; the ones in the round bottles. These used to retail for £11. The cheapest I could find this was on Amazon for £3.99, with free delivery.

Nails Inc The Mall

Nails Inc The Mall

OPI | Worth a Pretty Penne

The Coloristiq Manicure Box contains one of four OPI minis from the recent Venice collection. You can’t specify which one, so it’s an exciting wait to see which you’ll get. I received Worth a Pretty Penne, a delicious copper, packed with shimmer.

OPI Worth A Pretty Penne

OPI Worth A Pretty Penne

Essie | Fifth Avenue

Fifth Avenue is the perfect red-orange. It went on beautifully. I’m a fan of Essie anyway, but this one seemed to have a perfect application. The wide brush with its rounded tip helps with application.

As far as I can tell, this polish had its debut in Spring 2003, as part of the Central Park collection, but it’s such a popular shade that it has remained a part of the permanent collection since then. Essie retails for £7.99, but you can often find it cheaper than that, although rarely so for current polishes. I was able to find this for £4.99 on eBay, and for £6.49 from a more mainstream supplier.

Essie Fifth Avenue

Essie Fifth Avenue

Danglefoot | Bluedapest

Danglefoot is a UK indie maker. Before I get onto the review of this polish, I think it’s apposite that I talk about nail polish safety. There’s been a lot of drama recently surrounding a US indie polish maker, Mentality, where users have experienced chemical burn-type injuries, which they have attributed to the use of the polish. In the US, there aren’t the same restrictions placed on cosmetics’ manufacturers as there are here in the UK. Here, although the base used may already have been tested, the law requires that manufacturers also submit individual polishes for paid testing by an approved European laboratory when the base has been mixed with pigments and additives such as glitters. Many UK indies stopped making polish when it was realised that it costs several hundred pounds to test each polish. This sort of cost easily depleted any profit that they were making from the relatively small quantities of polish that they were selling. I know that many UK indies stopped producing polish and that at least one (Quirk 🙁 ) was reported and subsequently required by Trading Standards to stop selling.

Now, I don’t know if all the UK indies now pay to have their products tested. I asked Danglefoot, and the owner Hayley confirmed that all the ingredients from this polish were brought from the same supplier, which will soon be providing a testing service especially for UK indie makers. Although this polish has not been tested, Hayley confirmed that all the ingredients are cosmetic grade and (separately) meet EU standards.

Regardless of the lack of testing, I felt assured enough to try this polish anyway. And it’s a beauty. It’s a limited edition, made especially for the Colorostiq Manicure Box, so you won’t find it anywhere else. It’s described as a sea green, but I think it’s more blue (and I don’t much like green, so if I can describe a polish as blue, I will – it makes me feel better!). So, it’s a pale blue – with perhaps a hint of a smidge of a suggestion of a lean towards green (OK, it’s green!) – with gold flakies and a subtle scattered holo effect.

It’s almost a one-coater, and probably could be if you use a thickish coat. It dried slightly gritty due to the glitters, so needs a top-coat if you want a glossy and smooth finish.

If you buy this box, you’ll also get a code for 10% off any future Danglefoot order on its Etsy shop.

Danglefoot Bluedapest

Danglefoot Bluedapest

This is the first manicure box I’ve tried and I think it’s great value for four polishes for £15. At RRP, these four are worth £32. Admittedly, you can get a couple of them for less than their retail value and one is a mini. But one is a limited edition indie that you can only get in this box and the mini is a quality mini. So for less than £4 each, I think this is great value. Equally, you don’t have to subscribe to this box. If you like the look of it – and it’s not sold out yet! – you can buy it. You don’t have to make a commitment to buy future boxes.

For this manicure I’ve used:

Nails Inc The Mall: two coats; Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

OPI Worth A Pretty Penne: two coats; no top coat

Essie Fifth Avenue: three coats; Sally Hansen Insta Dri

Danglefoot Bluedapest: two coats; Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

All manicure images are copyright to Kerruticles unless otherwise mentioned.
All nail polishes shown in this post were sent to me for review. All views expressed in this post are my own, honest and unbiased opinions.

Bundle Monster has a new gel polish collection out, called Ain’t No Basic B!tch.

They are “speed gels”, which is Bundle Monster’s term for one-step gel polish. They don’t need a base or top coat, just two coats of the gel polish itself, and you don’t need to wipe off the sticky layer either (because there isn’t one!)

These need 30-60 seconds in an LED lamp and darker colours may require a longer cure. I cured all these for 60 seconds per coat and didn’t have any problems.

Pink Wednesdays

Pink Wednesdays is a pale, bubblegum pink with a hint of blue shimmer. This was the first one from the collection that I tried and I followed the instructions exactly, applying just two coats. However, I think it could have done with three for better opacity.

Bundle Monster Pink WednesdaysBundle Monster Pink Wednesdays

So Fetch!

So Fetch! is a blue jelly base with tiny gold flakies. It’s very sheer and needed four coats. I think it’s too sheer for use on its own and would be better layered over another polish. On my nail, the gold made the polish look more green than blue, and green isn’t a favourite of mine, so I’ll definitely wear this over a blue in future, because in the bottle and on the brush, it’s definitely a very lovely blue colour.

Bundle Monster So Fetch!Bundle Monster So Fetch!

Can’t Sit Here

Can’t Sit Here is a bright pink with a blue shimmer. It’s gorgeous and is my joint favourite of the collection. I could have got away with two coats, but I did a third to make sure the coverage was perfect.

Bundle Monster Can’t Sit HereBundle Monster Can’t Sit Here

Cheeky

Cheeky is a jelly lime green with gold flakies. It’s the brother to So Fetch! Again, it’s very sheer and I’m not keen on green, but I found myself loving this. It’s the kind of colour that looks great on darker skin tones, or when we pale and pasties get a tan. I think it would make a wonderful polish for holiday. This is four coats.

Bundle Monster CheekyBundle Monster Cheeky

Drama!

Drama! has a purple jelly base with small silver, pink and purple hexagonal glitters, purple micro glitter and purple bar glitter. This is three coats. It’s a very pretty polish. I don’t usually like bar glitter, but in this, it’s very subtle.

Bundle Monster Drama!Bundle Monster Drama!

You’re So Tragic!

You’re So Tragic! is black with silver, tiny green and pink glitters / flakies. It’s very opaque and two coats were enough for a perfect finish. It’s similar to Chanel Cosmic, Sally Hansen Midnight in NY or Zoya Storm. This is my other joint favourite.

Bundle Monster You’re So Tragic!Bundle Monster You’re So Tragic!

The Bundle Monster Ain’t No Basic B!tch collection costs $29.99 for all six polishes, or you can buy them for $5.99 each. I’ve always been worried about buying polish from overseas, but Bundle Monster polishes always reach me without any unwarranted attention from Royal Mail.

These are great one-step gel polishes. There really is no need for top coat and there’s no inhibition layer, so no need to wipe after curing. I just rubbed in some cuticle oil and they were left beautifully shiny.

Because there’s no base or top coat required, these are really quick to put on. And they can also be quick to remove if you use them in conjunction with Bundle Monster’s new peelable base coat for gel polish, Gel-Off. But more about that in an upcoming post!

For these manicures I’ve used:

Pink Wednesdays: two coats

So Fetch!: four coats

Can’t Sit Here: three coats

Cheeky: four coats

Drama!: three coats

You’re So Tragic!: two coats

All manicure images are copyright to Kerruticles unless otherwise mentioned.
The Bundle Monster Ain’t No Basic B!tch collection was sent to me for review. All views expressed in this post are my own, honest and unbiased opinions.

SpaRitual has launched its new summer 2015 collection, called Gathering. It comprises six rich colours, including this one, Tend.

Tend has an overall mustard-leaning gold colour. It has a yellowy-gold base and small gold flakies, which give a lovely shimmery finish.

I tried painting this on its own at first, but it left some visible nail line, so instead I layered it over a similar colour, Barry M Mustard. You could get a similar result by painting a coat or two more than I did, but I found it easiest to layer it.

SpaRitual Tend

I’m never sure about gold. I don’t think it goes so well with my skin tone. I suit the strong, bright colours better; like red, turquoise, hot pink and orange. While this is a lovely colour, it’s not my favourite from the collection. I think I prefer Nurture and Infuse.

SpaRitual TendSpaRitual Tend

The six colours in the collection are:

Harvest – a sand / nude with gold shimmer

Cultivate – a coral crème

Tend – a gold shimmer

Blend – an burnt orange jelly with silver shimmer

Nurture – a raspberry neon crème

Infuse – a neon orange with gold shimmer

In the UK, you can buy SpaRitual nail polish from the SpaRitual website. Polishes in this collection cost £9.75.

I’ve also recently seen that Nail Polish Direct has started selling SpaRitual too, and they have this collection and many others. More than 30 of the older polishes are just £5.00, which is a bargain. So, if you’re a SpaRitual fan like me, then it might be a good time to go have a nosey at them.

For this manicure I’ve used:

Base colour: one coat of Barry M Mustard

Colour: three coats of SpaRitual Tend

Top coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

All manicure images are copyright to Kerruticles unless otherwise mentioned.
SpaRitual Tend was sent to me for review. All views expressed in this post are my own, honest and unbiased opinions.

About me

I'm Claire Kerr and I'm a UK nails blogger. I've only been addicted to nail polish since 2012. Some kind of mid-life crisis turned me from a tomboy into a girly girl!

I had been posting pics of my manicures to Facebook, really as a way of documenting them for myself, but I was filling up my timeline with the photos and most of my friends weren't interested. So I started this blog instead!